The project develops inside a housing block, behind three houses built along the Chaussée d’Alsemberg. The site is more than 80 meters long starting from the Chaussée, and was formerly occupied by the Van Eeckhoudt Baker’s warehouse and car sheds left in a neglected state. The project that has been developed has allowed re-qualifying existing warehouses and building single-family units including spaces dedicated to craft activities and independent professions.
Each unit has a generous terrace and all enjoy a common garden space.
At ground floor level, the waste ground used as a wild parking space has been replaced by a common garden, redesigned and planted. Cars are now parked under the first carports built on the plot entrance, in order to safeguard a maximum of common green space. Ground floors are organized in such a way that working spaces are combined with living areas. Three units indeed include spaces dedicated to liberal professions, and two others have a direct access to the rehabilitated warehouse. This wide space has been turned into a huge workshop allowing craft activities.
This “comb” structure, organized between adjoining units, invites the sun to enter not only the inner courtyards but also into the lounges and bedrooms situated at a higher level. Out of sight, exploiting new hollows inherent to the construction and the anonymity of party walls, terraces are an extension to the lounges and can be furnished with furniture and plants like an inside room.
The project aims at globally reorganizing a dilapidated inside housing block and has been the subject of multiple consultations and adaptations together with the immediate neighbourhood. The courtyards definition, the view limitations, the distribution of surfaces turned into terraces have been decided in close collaboration with nearby landowners. The project location, the number of neighbours and the great social mix have altogether allowed to generate synergies with the surrounding environment.
The business next door for instance had the opportunity to recycle a 175m2 workshop situated under units 5 and 6, allowing in exchange units 2, 3 and 4 to enjoy a view on its courtyard. They asked us afterwards to redesign the entrance courtyard in order to harmonise it with our project and to turn it into a pleasant green space.
An unused cellar belonging to another neighbour has been transformed into a bike storage area and common laundry-room, against which his façade coating has been restored. The good integration of the project in the surrounding urban area resulted in the renovation of several next door façades.
Well aware of our responsibility as builders, we have included in this project an environmentally-friendly approach. In this context we focused on building ecoconstructions through the use of recyclable materials, wooden framework, natural insulators made of recycled paper flocculates, and rainwater recuperation for the toilets and cleaning water supply. Vegetal fences on the terraces and the planting of a variety of hedges and shrubs in the gardens restore and strengthen biodiversity in this inside housing block.